News Story

EIFF @ Edinburgh International Festival runs from Friday 18 to Wednesday 23 August 2023

The Edinburgh International Festival is proud to host Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) as they announce their curated 2023 film programme. The selection includes 24 new feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programmes, and an outdoor screening weekend which includes seven further features, in a six-day celebration of bold and eclectic cinema at the heart of the world’s biggest celebration of arts.

Complementing the previously announced Opening Night film Silent Roar, the Festival presents a selection rich with new voices. Amongst the Festival’s 11 debut features, EIFF is delighted to champion a new generation of UK talent.

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With this year’s vivid film selection the EIFF programme team has favoured the bold, drawn to filmmakers with searching perspectives and style to burn. Designed for an eclectic spectrum of film fans, and defined by a love of independent cinema, this compact programme shines a light on new talent, and offers a smashing six-day journey for EIFF’s passionate audiences.
Kate Taylor, Programme Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival

EIFF is proud to champion Scottish productions, with five feature films and 20 short films featured in the 2023 programme, including the World Premiere presentations of six freshly commissioned documentaries in the Bridging The Gap Documentary Short Films programme.

Closing Night film Fremont caps an international selection that includes work from celebrated arthouse directors Kelly Reichardt, Ira Sachs, Cauleen Smith, and Christian Petzold, and showcases enticing work from Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

American independent cinema is celebrated in a retrospective of four films made by rebellious filmmaking voices in the 1980s and 1990s, while Shane Meadows’s Dead Man’s Shoes, which had its world premiere at EIFF in 2004, is given a Retrospective Gala presentation.

Five feature films will be presented as world premieres, and the Festival also sees the launch of The Lynda Myles Project, including a discussion event on the living legacy of Myles' contributions to film culture, and a special work-in-progress preview of new documentary, The Lynda Myles Project: A Manifesto.

Placing an emphasis on deeper engagement for audiences, Encounters is a new series of discussion events putting dialogue at the heart of EIFF and positioning cinema in conversation with other artforms.

Themes in the film programme include: incisive works of non-fiction activism; films making thrilling use of genre to explore social, sexual and psychological issues; films made by artists; LGBTQIA+ stories; a lip-smacking selection of animation; and category-defying films that are truly stylish and entertaining.

For a closer look at the programme, view the digital brochure.

Photo credits:

Silent Roar | Dir. Johnny Barrington

Fremont | Dir. Babak Jalali